This isn't meant to excuse what happened on the George Washington Bridge. Right now, there is no evidence showing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie personally ordered the lane closures, although members of his staff reportedly did. Yet, during the 2000 Democratic primaries, former Al Gore campaign manager Bob Shrum says the Gore campaign actually created a politically-motivated traffic jam in New Hampshire after news broke that Gore could lose to former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley in what would've been an upset defeat.

"Michael Whouley [ Gore's GOTV operative] came up with a last-ditch scheme: Send Gore into areas of southern New Hampshire where there was a lot of Bradley support among upscale voters and commuters who worked across the border in Massachusetts. Many of them cast their ballots late in the day after driving home. Gore's motorcade -- candidate, press, Secret Service, and police -- could snarl traffic and keep some of the commuters from ever getting to their polling places or even trying to. We were prepared [sic] to try anything. But we didn't share the rationale with Gore; we just sent him on his way."

According to Shrum, Vice President Gore soon found out about this strategy. "But voters, Gore snapped, were having trouble getting to the polls," wrote Shrum. "Whouley cleared his throat: 'But sir, they're mostly Bradley voters.' He didn't need to say anything more. Gore got the point and continued on, although there wasn't enough time to go on to the last stop Whouley had planned. The traffic was just impossible."

This is just a little food for thought. It seems to show that: a) politicians from both parties will do anything to win, b) they're really not the most ethical of people, and c) politically-motivated traffic jams are nothing new.

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